International

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have concluded that North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM), launched late last month, failed in its atmospheric reentry.

The Asahi Shimbun daily reported on Saturday that the three governments drew this conclusion after analyzing the North's Hwasong-14 missile test-fired on July 28th.

It cited officials of the three nations as saying their governments agree on this assessment based on imagery of the missile filmed in Japan's Hokkaido region around the time it was believed to have fallen.

The image used in the analysis was captured by a camera installed on the office rooftop of a local NHK broadcaster in Hokkaido. The subject in the image grew gradually darker and became invisible before it reached the surface of the water. This indicates the warhead was likely destroyed.

However, the Asahi report also cited a military source as saying North Korea may only need several months to perfect its ICBM technology.